Paper/Article: Employment

This paper provides a deeper analysis of veterans’ employment experiences post-separation; specifically, the long term benefits of aligning military-conferred skills with career goals and expectations. Findings from the paper confirm the duality of workforce readiness, defined in this series as, “the combination of what the veteran brings to the workplace and what the employer does to proactively help veterans succeed there.” The research draws on self-reported data from veteran employees in the civilian sector, highlighting ongoing challenges that veterans face when transitioning from military to civilian employment. The paper concludes with a comprehensive set of actionable recommendations for both employers and veteran job seekers.

Key Recommendations

Employers: It is important to take a customized approach to veteran hiring, focusing more on skillsets than specialty areas, supporting mentorship programs, and ensuring that employees and HR professionals in particular are trained on military cultural competence.

Veteran job seekers: Make every effort to explore pre-transition career resources and educational benefits, leverage mentorship and on-the-job-training programs and seek positions at veteran-friendly organizations, when possible.

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